The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1887-12-16
The Japanese Capital

Your readers are all familiar with
the great cities Of Europe, either by
actui observation or through the col
umns Of current literature; but less is
known. perhaps, about the great cities
OF Asia. and Il Is about the City Of To
kio. the capital Of japan, that / wish
to write to-day. II Is larger than any
city on the American continent, with
the exception OF New York. IL con
tains fully 1.250Oo0 people. and ex-
tends over an area nine miles long by
eight broad II is a city OF immence
distances. For instance. TO 90 from
the station as you come In from Yoko-
hama to the station you leave 10 20
into the country. you cross distance
OF six miles, or about twice as far a.
from the Battery 10 the Central Depot
in New York. The city. is cnriously
laid out. In the very center is a large
round tract of land, containing the
castle and some othe public buildings.
This Is surrounded by moat or rather
a canal, which is In the form Of
spiral. II goes around the castle two
and n quarter times. Within the sec
ond ring are she houses of many Of the
noblemen and some more Of the pub
lie buildings. Outside of all this is the
city proper, which is intersected IN all
directions by canals. Never was there
seen a city In which II was easier to
lose ones self than In Toxic. This spi-
raj canal and the many heavy stone
walls and frequet turnings make one
lose his bearings even ON sunny day.
The history Toxic has been called a
history Of ares, plaques and earth
quakes. Perhaps no one city can CON-
pare with this In the number of It's dis
astrous accidents. In 1900 1t was moth
ing but a little fishing village, but It
was at that time made the capital OF
this section, and from that time its
growth was extremely rapid, as II canbe
gathered from the fact that In 1867
great fire, called the Gre OF Mel Reki,
destroyed 1O7,Ole people and swept
away 800 mansions Of Tie lirst nobility,
ITO of other mobiles, 500 temples and l.
200 streets; again In l67s, only eleven
years later, almost the whole city was
burned. In i70S an earthquake carried
away $1,000 people. In 1773 a pesti-
lence laid It's hand on the city and took
the almost inconceivable number Of
10000 souls. In 1856 $4,000 buildings
were destroyed by an earthquake, and
100000 people perished. These are
only the greater calamities that have
befallen this city, and it is terrible
record.
IL was in 1878 that the Mlkado made
the change of his residence from Kioto
to this city. Since that time the two
cities have grown apart, 80 that 1t Is
hard to believe that they belong to the
same nation. Kioto is old japan: To
kio is new Japan. Through the center
of Toxic runs a long sreet, her abroad
way" and on either side are fine build
lings in the European style of architect
ure. Everything that foreigner
would wish TO use In furnishing a
house or replenishing his wardrobe
can be found on this street. All the
signs are in English, although often
accompanied by the native language
a thorough system Of paving sewerage
illumination and horse car trasporta-
tion make Toxic more European than
some cities in Europe. 0fconrseI went
through the bazaars and temples and
lparl;s, all OF which were interesting
Our seurlo" in the museum Is worth
mentioning. 1t was a suited specimen
of a nati5e domestic fowl, now almost
extinct. The popularity is its tail
which by measurement is 10 Englisl
feet long. Tie body of the bird Is about
the normal size.-Tokio Correspond
lanca Newark Advertiger.